A career in academia can follow a perfect curve from doctorate to permanent professorship. Just as well it can be intermittent and ‘happen’ amidst other work, as has been the case with Markku Kuisma.

Kuisma was appointed to the chair of Finnish and Nordic History at the University of Helsinki in 2001, just as he was turning fifty. For a number of years prior to that, in fact starting in 1989, he had held down fixed-term professor posts.

In between his years at the University, Kuisma has worked as an elementary school teacher of Finnish and history, as well as the Head Editor-publicist for Outokumpu PLC. From 1988 to 2004, Kuisma was also fully or partially self-employed.

At the end of his studies in 1977, Kuisma became a research assistant at the Academy of Finland. He was soon attached to a research project examining the eighteenth-century hegemony of the Swedish empire. This was a revolutionary experience for Kuisma. While he still planned to be a teacher, his thesis was inspired by his research work at the Academy.

Kuisma’s started working at the age of 16 when he took a summer job working in a park. After that he worked in various jobs alongside his studies, such as an assistant to a surveyor, a roadworker, a dyer’s assistant in a wool factory, a water meter reader, and a construction worker.